Thompson Family-Life

new Christmas friends & welcoming a new year

My new Barbies. Yes, new Barbies. Kind of funny. They are really fun. My Mom & Dad (although I should give more credit to Mom because we all know Dad doesn't do Barbie shopping, haha) and Ethan bought me a total of FOUR Barbies for Christmas. I found some time to photograph them. If you aren't into dolls or photographing them, you might want to skip down to the bottom part of this post. ; )

Here are the differences I've found comparing them to my Blythe dolls:

1. Baby got back: Barbies have butts. And boobs. That orange and white polka dotted and denim skirt number on the blonde barbie is actually a Blythe outfit. Because I have a bajillion Blythe outfits. I do not have a bajillion Barbie outfits. Only what they came with, minus the pretty yellow dress on the redhead - that is vintage and given to me for Christmas as well. My point: Blythe clothes don't fit Barbie. Which I knew already, but had to try. Although you can fake it like I did with the Blonde. They don't completely close in the back.

2. Barbie is much easier to photograph than Blythe. Why? They aren't top-heavy like those big-headed Blythes. They don't fall over as much, unless it's really windy. (the redhead did make a face plant into the muddy dirt because of extreme wind. sigh.) But generally, they don't move! I used the same bamboo skewer trick that I use for my Blythes (stick it in the ground at a 45 degree angle and lean the doll up against it) and it worked great. They really do stay put.

3. Although they do stay put with the bamboo skewer trick, you almost always can see the stick in the photo since Barbies just don't take up a lot of space, like Blythes do. So more stick photoshopping with Barbie.

 4. Barbie is very leggy.

5. Her hair is really fine compaired to Blythe.

6. Most are way cheaper than buying a Blythe!

7. There aren't as many people making clothes for Barbie, like there are for Blythe. Not that I have found so far, and if they make something I like, the outfit costs twice as much as I paid for the doll. But that is okay because the craftmanship is exquisite! I'm hoping this will be the push I need to start making my own clothes for my dolls. Vintage patterns!

8. Barbie has a more matte skin tone, unlike Blythe who is TOO shiny (i.e. you don't get those awful reflections on Barbie like you do with Blythe in photographs.)

9. She is bigger in real life than you think! I don't know why I remember Barbie being smaller. Here's a comparison:

Here are the Barbies I have. They are all vintage repros (i.e. much more affordable then the vintage ones!... and if I get you hooked on vintage repro Barbie, don't tell your significant other it was me).

- 1965 My Favorite Career Student Teacher (her face style seems different from the others, I'm thinking that the face mold must have changed in 1966? Any Barbie experts out there?)

- (Not shown yet) 1966 Francie Doll

- 1967 Twist 'N Turn Barbie (redhead)

- 1968 All That Jazz Barbie (blonde)

- On my wish list (ahem, January Birthday Baby, over here, haha):
1960's "Wild Bunch" Francie Doll

I took some Blythe photos as well. I haven't gotten them out since my Palm Springs trip! So sad!

 It feels a little strange coming back to this place. Needless to say, it's been such a great break. I'm finally pulling myself out of denial mode that the holidays are over (I know you were there too, right?) Ethan is back at work today and the boys are back at school. Now it's time to get.it.done. I know most of you feel the same way.

Time to start hacking away at the To-Do List and New Year's Resolutions. I know, eye-roll, right? Resolutions. They are cliche every year. Everyone proclaiming them on their blogs. But you know what? I'm a total believer. Yeh, you might fail at some of them... but you also might succeed! You don't know if you don't try. I have a lot of big ones this year. Maybe I'll share them with you sometime. If anything, the 1st of every new year gives you a chance to wipe the slate clean and have a really positive outlook on things. I know many of us feel this way.

I'm looking forward to *hopefully* getting rid of A LOT of bad habits. I want to only let positive things come into my life, and for me to put a few positive things back out into the world. Seems like a simple thing, but wow, it's challenging!

I hope this place can be a positive stop in your life. I know this all sounds very Kum Ba Yah, but I really do hope that this place brightens your day in some way and doesn't make you leave feeling blah or ick. I'm really trying to eliminate a lot of those blah and ick online sources for me, whether it be blogs, twitter folks, etc. I'm also trying to cut down on the time I spend online so I can GET STUFF DONE. : )

My point is: I know that everyone's time is precious and if you're going to take the time to come here, I hope it's for good reason and that you can take something good away from it. 

I appreciate each and everyone of you that leaves a comment or those that lurk! To those that have left encouraging or uplifting comments in 2011, I appreciate you more than you know. Sometimes just saying something nice can make a HUGE different in someone's day, or mood, or outlook. I want to do that more in 2012 - just leave encouraging comments on people's blogs, in an email, twitter, facebook, whatever. Because I know how much those encouraging words have meant to me. Sometimes it's the complete strangers that you encounter in life, that lift you up the most - isn't that amazing?

I think that's pretty incredible.

Dolly Candy

1. Tammy, 2. francie with growin' pretty hair, 3. Francie, 4. “Propah” #YLW006, 5. "Joyeux" #YLW007, 6. Twist 'N Turn Francie, 7. OOAK Growing pretty hair AA Francie, 8. Francie, 9. Untitled, 10. Lebs, 11. Untitled, 12. Osyalles stretch their legs in Puppy Love Fashion, 13. Noe & the Firebird: 1, 14. 1st gen sisters, 15. Tha-Chin, 16. francie with growin' pretty hair, 17. Miniature Tvs, 18. 20060223britta: 4, 19. Untitled, 20. Vintage Pose Doll, 21. Penny Brite Dinette, 22. Vintage 1960's Love Me Linda - Pretty As A Picture Doll by Vogue, 23. Barbie dressed in sportsstar no. 3352 from 1972, 24. DSC_0002, 25. Vintage Goodness // mosaic made using Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker

I haven't posted any dolly eye candy for a while.. I guess since my dolly photo overload from my Palm Springs trip (of which I still have not finished documenting that trip here!).

I haven't thought much about dolls for a few months. I tend to do that. I get obsessed with something and then I completely forgot about it for a while. I notice when the holidays start creeping up, I start thinking about dolls again because that is often the theme of my Christmas Wish List!  

I usually tend to set my sights on a new Blythe, mostly because they are easy to come by (ya know, via the buy-it-now button on Ebay). But lately I've felt the need to streamline my Blythe collection. There are three girls I'm not so in love with. I'd love for my collection to be all about quality, over quantity. (I'm thinking of selling this girl, this one and this raven haired girl. If you are interested, e-mail me at thousandclowns(AT)yahoo.com.)

I do love this girl and I think that once I sell a few of mine, she is who I want. She reminds me so much of a Kenner. And I know it is very doubtful that I will ever own an original Kenner Blythe. 

I stumbled onto this guy's wigs for Blythe and they are exquisite. I can only imagine how much they cost, but I'm DYING for one!

The dolls I'm really leaning towards lately aren't Blythes at all, but vintage Francie dolls. I LOVE their mod look. They have such lovely faces! And of course, I love all of the vintage Japanese Licca dolls, but they are so hard to come by. :( You have to be die-hard to get your hands on one (most found through Japanese auctions), or have lots of disposable cash. 

So if you've made it through this post so far, you must be a dolly lover. What dolls are you coveting right now? Link me up! To me there's nothing more fun than spending lots of frivolous time and money on dolly playthings. : )

Are you working on a dollhouse? Did you miss my mid-century bullet planter tutorial for dollhouses? Check it out here.

DIY Tutorial: Dollhouse Bullet Planter

I was searching for mid-century style planters a while back and stumbled onto these amazing Bullet Planters that originated in the 50's. You can now buy reproductions of them at Hip Haven, but they'll set you back a few hundred bucks. Which is funny because the originals were only a few bucks! The originals are hard to find, but can be found on ebay, etc, many for a few hundred bucks themselves. Wouldn't it be fantastic to stumble onto one of these at a thrift store or flea market?

(sources: musician, viviana's amazing home 1 & 2, amazing vintage bullet planter collection, repros from Hip Haven, catalog)

For some reason I started thinking that it would be cool to make a dollhouse sized version of these and it was right around Easter time and I spotted some plastic Easter eggs and BAM, the idea was born. ; ) These were so much fun to make. It was a bit tricky figuring out the best way to make them, but this is what I came up with. If you know how to weld I'm sure you could weld the wires together for a more accurate design (this person did just that!), but since I don't know how to weld, this was my solution.

 

What You'll Need:

(I bought everything I needed at the craft store, except for my heavy-duty wire cutters)

- heavy duty wire cutters (I use these)

- 16 gauge aluminum wire in black (found at craft store in jewelry-making section)

- jewelry cord silver end caps (they look like this. I unfortunately don't know what size, but I'm pretty sure I bought a pack of these at Michaels Crafts that had a variety of sizes inside. I used the largest size. They don't have to be silver because you will be coloring them with a black sharpie marker. You just need to be able to fit 3 cut pieces of 16 gauge wire inside (see photo in steps below).

- spray paint in preferred colors

- spray primer

- black Sharpie/permanent marker

- plastic Easter eggs in various sizes (these eggs come in different shapes, be sure to use the kind where the largest half of the egg resembles a BULLET the most, i.e. a bit of a point at the end instead of a more rounded shape, similar to the original Bullet Planters)

- jewelry crimping tool

- sand paper

- optional: black modeling clay that can be air dried (doesn't have to be baked) (I used this)

Ideas of things to plant in your "planters":

- small rocks (you can find these in the floral dept. at the craft store)

- Micro Terrarium plants (I found these at Joann Crafts. My "Dusty Desert Cacti" grew, but my "Dragon Tree" didn't, heehee. Probably for my lack of a green thumb.)

- fake miniature plants

 

The How-To:

Step 1: Cut your wire. To determine the length of wire you need, take your half-Easter-egg and with the top of the wire reaching past the top of your egg about a half inch, and without bending your wire too much, shape it loosely around one side of the egg and then extending down (which will be the legs of the planter). Decide if you want a short-legged planter or long-legged planter (you can see the different sizes in the first photo above of my planters), then cut your wire accordingly. Be sure to allow a half inch or so excess so that you can trim the ends perfectly at the end of this tutorial.

Then gently straighten out that piece of wire and cut two more lengths of wire at the same length. You'll have 3 total cut lengths of wire now. TIP: try not to be willy-nilly-bendy with the wire, because once it's bent, it's hard to straighten it out, especially with this wire.

Step 2: Now cut your cord end cap. You will cut it in half as seen below. You will use the half that doesn't have the loop on the end. 

Step Three: Crimp your cut end cap around your 3 lengths of wire.

To do this, lay the 3 lengths of wire inside the end cap with them lying as flat as you can, side by side. Make sure that you place the end cap where it will be permanently. Once it's crimped it can't be moved. So, you will need to make sure that there's an appropriate length to wrap around your egg, and the right amount of length for your legs. You WILL end up trimming the ends some, but you should have plenty to work with.

Crimp the end cap with your crimping tool. (just squeeze the two ends of the end cap together with your tool)

Step Four: Bend the lengths that will be going around the egg as shown below. Bend them down at a 90 degree angle.

This part is tricky, so breathe. : )

Line up the crimped end cap with the very bottom of the egg, centered there. Take one of the top wires and wrap it upwards around the egg. The easiest way I found to do this is hold it in the middle with one finger, and with your other hand, wrap the top part of the wire over the lip with egg. 

Keeping that end cap centered at the bottom of your egg, repeat this with the remaining 2 wires.

Flip your egg over and fold out the "legs".

Flip it back over and fiddle with the legs so that the planter sits straight and upright.

Step Five: Color the end cap with your black permanent marker so that it blends in with the black wire.

Step Six: Take off the wiring.

Step Seven: Now it's time to paint your eggs! Sand your eggs first, inside and out. I primed mine with spray prime on the outside and inside. For your colors: I did two coats of paint on the outside, and then one coat on the inside. Follow the specifications on the can for dry times and reapplication times.

Once your eggs have dried, attach your wiring again taking care not to scratch the paint. Add your rocks and plants. If you use rocks, add a small ball of tissue in the bottom of your egg and then cover it in a top layer of rocks, that way your egg won't be so weighed down.

Here's my "micro terrarium cactus plant" : )

If you'd like, you can add little "stoppers" on the ends of your legs to look more like the original Bullet Planters. I used a very small bit of the modeling clay I mentioned in the supply list. Or you can leave the legs as is and color the ends with black sharpie (the very bottoms will be silver where you cut the wire). I opted to go without the clay stoppers.

 If you make these planters for your dollhouse, please share photos in my Flickr Group! You can share any photos of projects you've made with any of my tutorials in this group.

The Fine Print: You may use this tutorial for your own personal use. It may not be used for commercial purposes. Thank-you.

Vintage Love: Vinyl Doll Case Collection

I posted this collection over on Pilgrim's blog in January for a guest post while she was away on a trip (now she's away on a TWO WEEK trip to Japan. Color me supa-jealous. :D I've been meaning to re-post this collection here but kept forgetting.. so here it is! I also recently acquired a new case (thank-you Shannon for the tip!!) from Etsy. It was too much of a steal to not get it. I've never seen one like it and I love the bold colors. It's a great addition to the collection.

 

 

Here's what I wrote about this collection over on Pilgrim's blog:

Sometimes you love something so much that before you know it, you have a collection of them.

 

What draws me to these cases (other than their wonderful nostalgic charm) are the illustrations and graphics that adorn them. I'm a sucker for a vintage illustration especially from the 60's and 70's. I've acquired most of these through ebay, but my newest one (and new fav) is one I found at an antique mall for $15 (the best deal I've gotten on one of these). I love the illustration so much! The girls' outfits are pretty much perfect.

The key to these when you're looking is that you find ones where their vinyl is in good shape (which can be hard since it can rip easily with wear) and also making sure they don't smell (of course that's a risk you take with any vintage item, but always ask the seller to make sure if you are buying online). I got a doozy from Ebay that smelled like an ashtray when I opened it up. Fun! This one is quite lovely with the floral background inside!

 

The interiors of these vary from simply being a case for your dolls clothes and dolls (depending on what doll you collect), to more elaborate designs with fold-out compartments and illustrations that mimic what the interior would look like, like this "Barbie Friend Ship" Airplane case from the 70's. I saw this case on my friend's blog (thanks for the enabling, Karli!) and immediately neeeded it. I bought mine on Ebay (for too much money) and she found her's for a couple dollars at a thrift. If you are patient and visit your local thrifts and antique malls regularly, you are sure to find one of these doll cases. : )

This is a semi-recent purchase, "The World of Barbie House". The inside is pretty nifty.

What do you like to collect?

Vintage Craft: Mini Macrame Owl

Oh gosh, this little owl was so much fun to make! To see how small he is, here he is next to my 12" Blythe doll...

You can see how he started out here. It's quite tedious keeping all of the cords organized and I have to admit my fingers were hurting after making sure all of those square knots were nice and tight. But the end result is so worth it! He didn't really take that long to make. Several nights of watching several episodes of Buffy. I seriously love the eyes. I used a contrasting color on the eyes unlike the original pattern. I had a hard time finding very tiny wooden beads at the craft store, so I went with these beads. I like how they look with the purple hues.

Fraying the cord with a needle was tedious as well (the eyes and at the tail), but look how cute it looks!

I'm definitely going to make more. I bought this cord in lots of pretty colors. I might try and find another pattern, or just do the same design in different colors, maybe a set of three to hang on a wall in my dollhouse. Maybe I can tweak the pattern to make them slightly different sizes.

I have to say, working with these vintage patterns is becoming addictive. There's something about working with them and wondering who was working on the same projects in another decade, another time. Something tells me life wasn't so hectic and and they were probably able to enjoy the process more. I tend to get impatient, that is why these small scale projects make me happy. Instant gratification and they don't take up a lot of space! 

We saw Super 8 which is based in the 70's and I can imagine those characters breaking out the macrame during that time. (ok, maybe not these characters since it's an almost all male cast!) I just love that era and watching this movie (it was great!) made me want to watch Dazed and Confused again - stat. I'm also craving The Wonder Years.. I didn't watch all of those seasons when it was on, I'd love to watch episodes back to back. I'm up for that marathon.

It also REALLY made me want to buy a 70's muscle car. Those cars were so amazing!

Here's the vintage pattern booklet I used. "Money Makers", published in 1976 by Taurus Publications. The little paper mache people are funny aren't they? 

*edited to add: after looking at my photos on my desktop monitor, i'm realizing they are over-saturated and a bit dark. I've been editing and blogging from my new laptop... going to have to do some calibration on that laptop monitor. These are the kinds of things that drive me bonkers. ha*